The Mission
by MusicalLife13
Summary: Written for MissyLaMotte in the Holiday Fic Exchange. It was going to be their toughest mission yet, something they'd never even attempted before...


_A/N: I'm so sorry that this is a day later than I'd hoped, but we've been dealing with a massive ice storm over the last few days, and I was putting up a friend who had no power. Thankfully, everything seems to slowly be getting back on track. Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas! Written for MissyLaMotte for the Secret Santa Primeval Fic Exchange of 2013. Prompts at the end. :)_

Matt and Becker stared up at the ominous-looking building in front of them. Both of them wore expressions of trepidation, but since neither was one to back down from a challenge, they both resigned themselves to what they had to do next.

"You ready?" Matt asked his second-in-command, still facing forward.

"I'm always up for a challenge," was Becker's reply.

"You armed?"

Becker held up his hands so Matt could see his weapons of choice. Matt spared him a quick glance out of the corner of his eye and nodded.

"Well, then I guess there's nothing left but to just go in and take care of business," he stated.

"You do realize that this is probably the most dangerous thing that we've ever done, right? Even more so than the stegosaurus incident last month?"

Matt kept his face expressionless, but nodded again as he recalled the details of that particular mission. "Yeah, that definitely wasn't our finest hour. But it worked out in the end and so will this."

"I wish I had your confidence," Becker declared.

"Trust me, mate, it'll be worth this mess."

It was Becker's turn to nod, but before he started to move forward, he turned to his companion. "In and out, right? Just like we talked about?"

"Yep. We know where we have to go and what we need. We divide and conquer to save time, then come together at the end to regroup and make sure we haven't missed anything before finishing the job. If all goes according to plan, we'll be back at the ARC within an hour."

"And if it doesn't go to plan?"

"When have things ever not gone to plan for us?"

Becker paused to raise an eyebrow at the team leader. "Would you like that list alphabetically or chronologically?"

"Don't bother," came Matt's reply. The pair stared at the building in silence for a moment more before Matt spoke again. "Alright, enough delaying. Let's get this done."

Becker nodded as they stepped forward. "You got Jess to put us on a private comms line?"

Matt shook his head as they advanced. "Couldn't risk her involvement. We're on our own for this one."

"Right." With two steps to go before they hit the doors, both paused again. "Good luck, Matt."

"Same to you mate."

The two men shared a quick, relatively discreet fist-bump before they each reached for a door handle. Becker politely held his door open for the woman carrying handfuls of bags, receiving a grateful smile in thanks.  
"A shopping mall on December 23rd…what were we thinking?"

Matt tried not to lose his patience as he stared at the mass amounts of people standing between him and the cash register. He'd managed to find the store that Jess had recommended for Emily's Christmas present fairly quickly, but given the day, it had been a battle to get back out on his self-imposed timeline. Surely Becker was already done and waiting at the main entrance for him.

This was Emily's first Christmas in this century, and Matt had wanted to make sure that she enjoyed it. He'd even enlisted Jess' help to come up with gift ideas, and Becker's help to refine them. The FCO had used Abby and a girls' night to find out the sort of things that Emily liked, and Becker had, under the pretense of filling out some of the never-ending paperwork they saw, asked several questions about some of the traditions from Emily's original time.

The plan was fairly brilliant, but had taken a bit longer than expected. So by the time they had the information they needed, it was only a few days before Christmas. Given the frequency of anomalies, Matt had informed Jess of where he would be before unplugging his black box so Emily couldn't stumble onto the plans. Jess had given him a happy smile and told him to ring her if there was any trouble on his end.

And so, Matt now stood in line at Waterstones, three books and two CD's in his hand. He'd known of Emily's love for reading for a while, but when Jess had told him about her desire to catch up on what had happened in the hundred-plus years she'd missed, Matt decided to help. Not only had he picked her up a book on British history since the start of the 19th Century, he'd also found a book that showed the advancements of women as well. And, just to round things out, at the top of his book pile was a lovely, leather-bound copy of Pride and Prejudice, Emily's favourite novel.

Music-wise, he'd done something similar by buying her a CD of classical music from the early 13th Century to now, as well as an S Club 7 CD (which Jess had informed him was a group that Emily had discovered she like on their girls night, before the wine had kicked in). He was feeling pretty pleased with himself but had one more stop to make once he made it through this massive line, for what he hoped would be Emily's favourite part of his gift.

He had to give the store employees credit – they were pushing customers through the registers fairly quickly, making the line in front of him shrink a lot faster than he'd expected. Just as he became the third person left in line, his mobile rang. Shuffling his purchases into one hand, he yanked the phone from his pocket to find Jess on the other end.

"How's the expedition?" she asked with a hint of a smile in her voice.

"So far, so good," Matt replied with a small grin of his own. "Phase one is just about complete, and then it's onto phase two."

"Well phase two should be fairly simple given that we already called ahead for it," she replied with a laugh.

"Too right," he said. "But something tells me that you aren't just calling to check up on me."

"Sadly, no," she confessed. "Beta team just got sent to an anomaly near Leicester Square. No incursion yet, but I know you like being kept in the loop."

"Appreciated, Jess," Matt said as the woman in front of him finally got to the register. "Keep me informed on any changes, yeah?"

"Always," she said before pausing briefly. "You don't by any chance know where Becker would be, do you? I've tried ringing his mobile to let him know what's going on, but he's not answering. I know it's his day off, but he's also requested being told of all anomaly alerts."

"Knowing Becker, he's probably at a gun range and not able to hear his phone," Matt fibbed easily. "Send him a text letting him know something's up, and I'm sure he'll call when he can."

Jess let out a small laugh again. "You're probably right. Thanks Matt. See you back at the ARC soon. Good luck!"

"Thanks Jess." Matt hung up and pushed the phone back into his pocket just as he was waved up to the counter by the smiling cashier.

Becker stared almost blankly at the wall in front of him, every single item looking virtually the same to his untrained eye. But he knew that this was a mission he just had to complete, so he gritted his teeth and went back to the task at hand. This was taking much more time and effort than he'd expected, and he constantly had to keep reminding himself of why he was doing this. Luckily, every time he did just that, the picture that popped into his head of red hair, blue eyes, high heels, short skirts and a sweet smile pushed him to soldier on.

This was his second of three stops for today's endeavour. The visit to the custom chocolate store had been highly lucrative, as he'd managed to create a box of chocolates that he was sure Jess would swoon over (orange-free, of course). Abby had managed to get some very important information off of the little redhead on her 'grill-Emily-without-making-it-look-suspicious' night, and while she'd smirked the entire time she was listing things off for Becker, he'd just taken it in stride.

Not only had Abby found out Jess' absolute favourite flavours of chocolate (which Becker obviously incorporated into his box, along with some new, non-traditional ones), she'd discovered a closely-kept secret tradition from Jess' past that was the source for Becker's third stop on the shopping trip.

But for now, he had another fish to fry. He spent another minute or so looking back and forth over the wall in front of him until he saw them. They were perfect; a soft, pearlised white and were accented with silver and teal trim around the opening and crossed over the toe. He reached up and carefully pulled down the sky-high heel with the red sole to take a closer look.

"That's one of our best sellers," a voice near his elbow stated softly. He turned to his left to find a pretty girl with dark hair smiling gently at him. "It's not as high as some of our pumps or platforms, has a rounded toe to allow for comfort, and has a bit more cushioning built into the sole, particularly around the ball of the foot."

He smiled back at her. "I have a very clumsy friend who is always running around in heels. They're exactly what I'm looking for."

The girl's smile widened a bit at his statement. "She must be quite the friend to warrant this kind of gift." Ignoring the very slight flush that hit Becker's cheeks at her statement, she moved on. "Can I find a size for you?" Becker quickly passed over the information, and the girl vanished into the back of the store. Emerging a moment later with the labelled tan box, she motioned Becker over to the counter where he could inspect the pair of heels he'd selected for Jess.

"Perfect," he said, a soft smile crossing his face at the thought of Jess' reaction to this part of her gift. The salesgirl smiled knowingly at him (which he missed, but that is Becker's style) as she carefully re-packaged the shoes and finished the sale. "Merry Christmas," she said as she handed him the bag with his purchase. "I hope she enjoys them." Becker nodded at her and thanked her for her help just before turning away to go complete the final phase of his mission.

"Good so far?" Becker asked as Matt walked into the Christmas-themed store that they both needed to visit.

Matt nodded. "I'm down to my last one, and this is just a pick-up. You?"

Becker held up his bags. "It's been easier than I thought, but I just need a quick opinion before I pick out and pay for the last." He laid out the three options on a nearby display table for Matt to see.

After a moment of contemplation, Matt turned to his Second. "What's your gut telling you?" With zero hesitation, Becker pointed to the one in the middle. He smirked at the quick decision, and nodded his approval. "Well done," Matt commented as they then headed for the counter. "By the way, Jess called to tell me that there's a bit of a situation that's being handled. She apparently tried calling you too but you didn't answer."

"I saw her ringing but couldn't risk the questioning period that was coming along with it as to where I am. I'll call her once we're done."

Within a few minutes, both men had their final purchases paid for and in hand, and were heading back to the main entrance of the shopping centre. They shared a nod of thanks with each other before heading to their respective vehicles.

Christmas morning found each 'couple' from the ARC's team spending time with each other. Abby and Connor were celebrating their third Christmas home since their trip to the Cretaceous, and were having a quiet day in their new flat. They exchanged gifts early (Abby especially loved her new boxing gloves while Connor went nuts over his limited-edition Millenium Falcon Lego set) before settling in to start cooking dinner for the rest of the ARC's Alpha team.

While Connor and Abby were giggling as they prepped the turkey, Matt and Emily were quietly exchanging gifts over a leisurely cup of tea. Emily had already given Matt his membership to the Royal Botanical Gardens, along with an interesting breed of orchid she'd found and a thick leather journal to help him document life in the present. Matt had been touched by her thoughtfulness and only hoped that she liked his gifts to her half as much as he'd liked his.

He wasn't disappointed. The books and CD's had gone over extremely well, and Emily was now carefully unwrapping his final gift to her. Matt moved the now-empty tea mugs to the counter behind him, and turned back in time to hear Emily's soft gasp as she pulled the object in question out of its box.

She held up the snow globe and gazed at it with tears in her eyes. Matt and Becker had scoured the internet to find the perfect one, and then he'd enlisted Jess' help to make sure he could get it. The matte silver-plated base depicted various London sites (including Parliament and Big Ben) that had been around for ages, but it was the small Victorian girl standing next to a snowman and ancient lamppost inside the globe that had sold it for Matt. It was exactly what he'd had in mind for Emily, and judging by the look on her face, it had been the right call.

"Matt," she whispered, in awe of what was in her hand. "It's beautiful." She looked over at him and smiled before carefully placing the globe on the table in front of them, and reaching over for a hug. Matt gladly took her in his arms and held her close, running his hand through her curls. "Thank you," she told him.

"Merry Christmas, Emily," he said quietly, smiling as she reciprocated the sentiment.

While Matt and Emily were cuddling on the couch, Becker was just arriving at Jess' flat to exchange gifts with her. He started smiling the moment she'd opened the door, and didn't stop once for the rest of his visit.

After tea and the chocolate and strawberry scones that Jess had picked up at the bakery downstairs, they'd moved into her living room and she'd eagerly handed over her present to him. He was absolutely thrilled with the gun-cleaning kit, and custom-made holster she'd given him (complete with straps for either his ankle or shoulder, and his initials carved into the leather), and praised her for her creativity and thoughtfulness after teasing her good-naturedly about enabling his gun addiction.

And here was where his smile disappeared: his nerves kicked in as she opened her gifts. As predicted, the chocolates were a hit, and the beautiful heels garnered a shriek that nearly blew out his left eardrum. But, like Matt, he was especially anxious about his third gift to her. She was beaming and babbling about how wonderful he was for buying her such lovely Christmas presents and how they were too much and that she didn't deserve such a wonderful gift, but as soon as she opened the final (and smallest) package, all words died from her lips.

Jess stared at the delicate little glass angel ornament for what felt like hours, her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide with disbelief. "Becker," she whispered, eyes not leaving the small object in her hand. "How did you…"

"I wanted to get you something really special and was running some ideas past Abby. This was one of them, and when she heard it, she told me about the tradition you used to have with your mum before she passed away," he replied, keeping his voice soft so as not to startle her.

"She always gave me an angel ornament for Christmas," Jess murmured, tears springing to her eyes.

Becker nodded. "I know how hard Christmas can be without family, and thought that this was a tradition that needed to come back for you." When she still said nothing, Becker started to panic. "If it's not right, or you don't like it, I can take it back. I just thought – "

The rest of his sentence was completely cut off. While he'd started rambling, Jess had carefully put the ornament in its box on the table and proceeded to launch herself at Becker. Her lips met his in a fierce kiss, and he barely had a second to think before wrapping one arm around her waist and cupping the other against her cheek to wipe the now-falling tears as he returned the kiss. The pair didn't speak for quite some time after.

A few hours later, it was a very happy Becker and Jess that met a shyly smiling Matt and Emily downstairs from the Maitland-Temple flat, and wished each other Happy Christmases. Emily and Jess immediately launched into a discussion about the gifts they'd received from the men next to them, though neither missed the nod and handshake from the two others in the group. They'd almost stopped their conversation entirely when Matt and Becker pulled each other into a manly hug, but knew that the pair wouldn't want the attention. So, instead, they turned to buzz up to the flat.

"Mission accomplished?" Matt asked Becker once they'd stepped back.

Becker nodded. "With flying colours. Yours?"

"Complete success," Matt affirmed with a grin. After a moment's pause, his face grew a bit more serious. "Thanks for the help, mate."

"You too, but I think we should try to get that one done a bit earlier next year," Becker said with a smirk.

"Agreed." The two men shared a laugh as they were beckoned inside the foyer by the smiling women with them.

**~ END ~**

_A/N 2: Here were the prompts from MissyLaMotte: **1) Matt/Becker bromance, 2) Becker hurt/comfort (with any other canon character), 3) Something with a stegosaurus**. Given the time of year, I thought that the bromance would be the most fun. It's been so much fun writing this, so thank you to DrGiggles for organising it!_


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